When transporting large elements on a truck, special transport equipment is needed in order to adjust the truck to suit the particular element to be transported. Furthermore, national regulations of a country or a state may require that the transport not exceed a certain height or a certain weight.
In many countries in Europe, a certain overall height has been specified, which a truck including an element may not exceed. In order to comply with these regulations, special transport equipment, which enable the element to be transported on a platform lowered down between a front part of a truck and a rear part of a truck, may be required.
A transport solution where a platform has been lowered down between a front part of a truck and a rear part of a truck is disclosed in EP 1 053 930.
When transporting a large element, such as a wind turbine nacelle, the nacelle is transported on a transport platform during production. Subsequently, a fork on the front part of the truck engages with a front of the platform by inserting the forks into corresponding holes in the platform and, similarly, a fork on the rear part of the truck engages with a rear of the platform via corresponding holes in the rear of the platform.
Such large transport platforms are very difficult to handle during production, but are needed for support of the nacelle during transport, as the front and the rear part of the truck have been parted from each other in order to make room for the nacelle in between them. Thus, an alternative solution is needed which is easier to handle during production and which still aids the transport, since part of some nacelles are fragile and these nacelles thus cannot be lifted in their ends only, thus making transport very difficult.
Furthermore, the transport platforms are so long that the free space needed around a transport platform in order for the platform to be engaged by forks is 6-10 m, which is a lot in a production site.
The transport platforms are also very expensive, and even though they can be reused again and again, the transport platforms are often not returned to the production site until approximately 10 months after the nacelle has reached its destination. One reason for this may be that transport of the platform back to the production site in many countries requires an accompanying car, and thus in itself is expensive.